Analysis: Georgetown 14, Loyola 11

For the first 40 minutes of lacrosse on Saturday afternoon at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex, the host Greyhounds and visiting Georgetown Hoyas stood toe-to toe and traded punches all game.

Georgetown went up by two. The Loyola roared back for four straight. Georgetown netted three to re-take the lead. It went on like that, a see-saw battle with no team leading by more than a goal until Georgetown changed tack in the second half, slowing things down with the ball for long possessions, but critically, scoring at the end of those possessions, pulling ahead and holding on for a 14-11 win.

“It was definitely a conscious decision to keep possesssion [longer],” says Georgetown head coach Ricky Fried, whose team improvd to 8-2 on the season and 3-0 in Big East play. “We wanted to maintain possession and slow the pace a bit, but the key was we were able to score at the end of those possessions.”

Senior midfielder Sophia Thomas scored four goals to lead the Hoyas, scoring their first goal of the contest, their final goal of the contest, and the one that gave them the lead which they never relinquished with 16:29 remaining in the game. Kelyn Freedman had a pair of goals and three assists, while Caroline Tarzian had two goals and an assist and Hannah Franklin had two goals in a well-spread offensive attack.

“Loyola scouted our dodge very well,” Thomas said. “We just worked the ball around, and that shows in our having a lot of assisted goals.”

The loss was a tough one for the Greyhounds, who had battled back from a rough 2-5 start with three straight wins and were perfect in Big East play prior to Saturday afternoon. Annie Thomas had four goals and Molly Wolf had seven saves, but they were unable to keep their roll going once Georgetown changed the pace and kept the ball from the Greyhounds' sticks.

“[Georgetown] just made the plays when they needed to,” says Loyola head coach Jen Adams. “Capitalizing on our opportunities is where we fell short.”

Loyola scored well whenever they had the ball, potting 11 goals on just 19 shots, but they were out-worked on the ground (20-13) and only converted half of their free-position shots (3-for-6) compared to Georgetown's 75% (3-for-4). Georgetown, on the other hand, peppered the Loyola goal for much of the game, finishing with 29 shots on the day.

“We had to play through the entire 60 minutes,” Fried says. “You could see that whoever got the draw control was going to score [at times].”

The Hoyas now sit tied atop the league with Notre Dame, which they travel to next weekend for a key tilt. Loyola, which has won the previous two conference titles, has to regroup while also facing Notre Dame next weekend on the road.